(c. 1565-1608), outstanding rebel military leader during Russia's Time of Troubles.
Ivan Bolotnikov led the so-called Bolotnikov rebellion (1606 - 1607) against Tsar Vasily Shuisky. That rebellion was the largest and most powerful uprising in Russian history prior to the twentieth century and has often been compared to the rebellions led by Stepan Razin and Emelian Pugachev. For several generations, scholars erroneously claimed that the Bolotnikov rebellion was a social revolution against serfdom led by a radical former slave, Ivan Bolotnikov. In fact, the rebellion was not a social revolution; serfs did not actively participate in it, and rebel goals never included the abolition of serfdom. Instead, Bolotnikov led rebel forces loyal to Tsar Dmitry against the usurper Tsar Vasily Shuisky. Wrongly believing that Dmitry had escaped Shuisky's assassins, the rebels essentially renewed the civil war that had brought Tsar Dmitry to power. Bolotnikov's forces came from all social classes, and the uprising against Shuisky quickly spread from southwestern Russia to cover half the country.
Little is known about Bolotnikov. In the late sixteenth century, he apparently served the tsar as a cavalryman but fell on hard times and indentured himself to a rich aristocrat as an elite military slave. He later fled to the southern frontier and joined the Volga or Don cossacks. Bolotnikov was eventually captured by Crimean Tatars and sold into slavery; he spent several years working on a Turkish ship before Germans liberated him. On his way back to Russia, he passed through Poland, where he heard about Shuisky's coup d'état. Bolotnikov made his way to Sambor (home of Marina Mniszech), where a man claiming to be Tsar Dmitry interviewed him. "Tsar Dmitry" (Mikhail Molchanov) appointed Bolotnikov commander-in-chief of all rebel forces struggling against Shuisky.
Sometime during the summer of 1606, Bolotnikov arrived in Putivl (headquarters of the rebellion in Tsar Dmitry's name), took command of a rebel army, and began marching toward Moscow. He defeated Shuisky's rapidly retreating forces, and town after town welcomed Bolotnikov as a hero. During the siege of Moscow (late fall 1606), however, rivalry between Bolotnikov and another rebel commander, Istoma Pashkov, led to Pashkov's betrayal of the rebels during a decisive battle on December 2, 1606. Forced to break off the siege, Bolotnikov retreated in good order to Kaluga, where his skillful defense of the fortress frustrated all efforts by Shuisky's commanders to capture the town. After breaking up the siege of Kaluga, Bolotnikov led his men to stone-walled Tula to link up with other rebel forces. Soon Tula came under siege, but once again Bolotnikov's skill and energy frustrated his enemies. Eventually, Tsar Vasily's army built a dam below Tula and flooded the town, forcing the rebels to surrender on October 10, 1607.
Bolotnikov managed to negotiate good terms for the rebels. He gave himself up, but his men (with their weapons) were allowed to go free. Many of them immediately rejoined the civil war against Shuisky by entering the service of the second False Dmitry. Bolotnikov was taken in chains to Moscow as a trophy of Tsar Vasily's victory over the rebels. He was then transferred to Kargopol in north Russia, where he was blinded and drowned in early 1608. So great was his reputation that even some of Shuisky's supporters privately criticized the tsar for executing the brilliant rebel leader.
Bibliography
Avrich, Paul. (1972). Russian Rebels, 1600 - 1800. New York: Schocken Books.
Bussow, Conrad. (1994). The Disturbed State of the Russian Realm, tr. G. Edward Orchard. Montreal: McGill-Queen's.
Dunning, Chester. (2001). Russia's First Civil War: The Time of Troubles and the Founding of the Romanov Dynasty. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
Skrynnikov, Ruslan. (1988). The Time of Troubles: Russia in Crisis, 1604 - 1618, tr. Hugh Graham. Gulf Breeze, FL: Academic International Press.
—CHESTER DUNNING
